He pulls in another lungful of air, chest rising and falling harshly, eyes locked on mine before trailing to the car once more and back to me - over and over.

And then he does the last thing; I would've ever expected him to do.

Ibrahim moves around me - and rushes towards the car door.

"Ibrahim, what are you doing? Where are you going?" I breathe quickly and anxiously, close at his heels.

He doesn't answer, simply keeps walking determinedly towards the door. "Ibrahim!" I hiss, and hustle in front of him, blocking his way.

"Wahaj, I don't want to hurt you, move out of the way," he murmurs almost absently, eyes firmly on the car door as if in some sort of trance as Layan is watching him inside the car while Lila was asleep.

"I want to see them. I want..."

I feel my indignant fury returning, my protective instincts taking over me.

Whether Ibrahim knew the truth or planned to do anything at all and what exactly is his game is something I'll have to think about later. Still, it doesn't change the fact that this man coldly stomped on my heart one day and betrayed my trust. He blew into my life like a whirlwind – and out of it like a hurricane without warning.

I refuse to let him do that to my daughters.

"You want what? What exactly do you want?"

He doesn't answer me, just keeps staring at their faces behind the glass window.

"You don't know what you want, Ibrahim! You never have!"

He stands there with his eyes glued to the door, nostrils flaring but doesn't respond.

"This is not a game, Ibrahim!" I say through clenched teeth, glaring up at him as I moved him away from the car. "You can't open that door on a whim, or simply to satisfy your curiosity! You can't enter this world for a few hours and then be on your way until you figure out what exactly it is that you want! They are not a game!"

"THEY ARE MY DAUGHTERS!" he howls, so forcefully that it shocks me into retreat. I take a couple of steps back while he locks me inside his furious gaze; eyes were burning with a fire I've never seen before.

He stalks over to me, but then suddenly staggers backwards.

"Ya Allah. Oh, Allah, They're my... they're my daughters," he reiterates in a choked voice as if he's just realized what's actually occurred here.

After a few seconds, he straightens up and glares down at me again, his breathing hard and erratic, but I won't cower down to him. I bowed to his will unquestioningly once and ended up hurt beyond words. I won't let him do it to my daughters.

"Wahaj, I want to see them. Please move out of the way."

My pulse races wildly. "Ibrahim," I say, drawing in a deep breath to calm myself, to think through my words. "Ibrahim, I didn't come for this, you could leave now and we can discuss it later. Take some time to calm down and think about-"

"What?" he exclaims wildly. "Leave? You expect me to leave?"

"Think about what you're doing!" I spit. "Ya Allah, for once, stop being so goddamned selfish and think about how your actions may affect others besides yourself!"

He straightens himself up, clearly offended.

"You can't open the car door, let them trust you for a few hours or a few days, and then be off! Or simply use them! That's not how it'll work this time! I won't let you break their hearts! And the alternative would mean you'd have to give everything up, Ibrahim! Everything! Stop and think about that and you'll see it as clearly as I do! Your future aspirations, any future research plans will be eliminated. All you have ever wanted will be taken away. Once everyone knows what you did, You will be fired from your job as a professor, may be sentenced to jail time because of the ethics you broke in gene manipulation,"

He staggers backwards, eyes wild as if I've just slapped him, scowling incredulously.

"What I've...what I've always wanted? I ran after you!" he shouts. "I looked every day at the station waiting for a sign that you would come back...and you were hiding my daughters?" he hisses in disbelief, his features hardening. "You don't know me at all, Wahaj, if you think for a moment that I'm just going to turn around and leave! Now move out of the way and let me see them!"

"I was never hiding," I seethe shakily.

His eyes flare. "Wahaj, move out of my way."

"Ibrahim, leave. Now."

"Wahaj!"

"Ibrahim," a voice suddenly calls out behind him - Ahmad. Ibrahim doesn't turn.

"Ibrahim, Wahaj is right. Come on inside - for now," he says firmly. "You both need to calm down and think."

Ibrahim still doesn't budge.

"Ibrahim, listen to Ahmad. It's been a hectic twenty-four hours - for the both of us."

"No," he growls defiantly.

I'm shaking so badly I can't even see straight anymore.

"Ibrahim," Ahmad says lowly. "Look, man, I know you're confused, but think of the little girls. This isn't how you want to be introduced."

His chest heaves. He closes his eyes, and I can tell that he's torn and that he will be of no use for me unless he is Ibrahim, that conniving witch that I knew that played life like a chess game.

"Go, Ibrahim. You can't think straight now. I came to see you tell you something, but you don't seem like you are you anymore. When you decide what you want to do inform me, but be ready to give everything else up because I won't let you get away from what might have happened to me and thanks to you I have every paper needed to place all of you behind jail bars, With them, it has to be all or nothing."

He stands there rigidly, furiously gazing down at me, but then Ahmad reaches out and puts a heavy hand on his shoulder, pulling him back.

"Ibrahim, let's go."

Eyes still firmly on mine, Ibrahim starts turning away.

He jerks forward once more, quickly. "I'm sorry, Wahaj," he hisses, "for the lies, for my moment of indecision; for putting myself before everyone. You didn't deserve any of it, and I'm so damned sorry for everything." His jaw clenches tightly before he speaks again. "But I'm not that self-centred man anymore, Wahaj, and I will let you trust me. Don't doubt that for a second."

He slowly turns and begins to walk inside the house, only to stop once more, this time facing in the direction of the car while I still stand stiffly by my vehicle. I'm not sure what expression he's wearing, but it's enough to make Roya's lip quiver sharply as she stood beside the gate door.

Ahmad reaches out for his shoulder again, and after a few seconds, He resumes his quick, confident pace, and I get inside the car where Layan had woken up her sister, and they start attacking me with questions.

*****

Ibrahim's POV

Green eyes precisely like mine swim before my vision and eclipses everything else in the way. Rich, copper hair...a shade brighter than mine, but my hair.

...I have daughters.

Four years ago, I stood lost in the middle of the crowd as I looked for Wahaj. A few weeks later, she texted, saying she miscarried. That was the last text I ever got from her. She sent divorce papers that same week, I didn't think much of it as just a mere emotional response to the shock of miscarrying. I never signed them. I was sad that weekend not because of the child but because of her. I wanted to tell her but was never able to reach her. It was like she disappeared from the face of the earth.

"Dammit!"

In the quiet tension of the house, I let loose a furious howl, slamming on the table - over and over...

...I have daughters.

Why didn't she tell me...

...I have daughters.

Ahmad remains silent, seeing his mother beside him as his father never dared to speak a word when his mother spoke, "When Eman and you-"

I cut her off immediately, "Once Wahaj returned; I couldn't continue with my promise, Mom- I can't... I won't marry Eman,"

...I have two daughters.

"That is why Eman wasn't receiving my calls," My mother spoke in realization, "It was the day you were stabbed that Eman was crying," My mother started piecing everything together.

...I have two daughters.

The awareness hit my mother, "That little witch she was the one who stabbed you wasn't she?! I told the police, it was her, they didn't take my word for it!" She hissed, "That conniving witch,"

...I have daughters.

"Layan."

I absorbed the name she called her.

"Lila is snoring loudly," A voice came from the room, I remembered.

"Lila"

Everything feels surreal; like an alternate version of that long-ago vision.

"Layan and Lila."

I drop slowly over the sofa before my legs can give out.

"Why? Why haven't I figured it out sooner? Why didn't I follow her, looked harder? Why was she hiding so well?"

Ahmad takes a seat opposite me. "Ibrahim, stop and think. I know you've been hit out the left field with this, but think things through. Now, didn't she seemed shocked when you told her she was infertile as if she'd had no idea."

I nod tersely.

"If she really didn't know that then her father never told her any of this, he still thinks that Layan and Lila are genes manipulated babies and not biologically related to Wahaj or you, she seemed to also believe that Mr Black is after her. Diab managed to keep Mr Black and you away from wahaj so Mrs Chamberlain and he could get the big piece in the market."

"But now there is no market since they weren't gene manipulated, so Diab has been manipulating Mrs Chmaberlain into giving him 30.000 while he didn't have anything,"

"But why the hell didn't she tell me? She thought they were ours for four years and never thought to tell me once! Not just now, but back then, we could have worked things through."

"That's something only she can answer."

I switch quickly from one thought to the next while trying to make sense of everything all at once. At that it hit me. I finally felt how Wahaj felt when we manipulated her.

I drop my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. "DAMMIT!"

*******

It's two in the morning local time when I can finally muster enough self-control to place the call.

"Ibrahim." She says while I say nothing.

She breaths frustratingly she seemed to be stuck in a car from the noise that I was hearing and the sound of children so close to the phone, "I will meet with you tomorrow in the restaurant at three after my lectures," She says and quickly and close it repeating what I told her a day before.